This week, my dishwasher broke. My first thought was, "NOOOOOOOO!" But then I took a minute and thought about it. I realized it wasn't the end of the world at all. I am one of those people who it took a long time to even get dependent on the dishwasher in the first place. I always did my dishes by hand when I was single because unless I had house guests, I didn't really have enough dishes to load a dishwasher anyway without creating an unhealthy environment holding on to dirty dishes! It became so miniscule really that I forgot to even mention to my husband that the dishwasher broke till two days after I noticed it.
It got me thinking however. As I did the dishes by hand last night, I thought to myself, "If my daughter was a teeneger and this was her chore, would she be able to switch it up and just do the dishes by hand?" Then I started to ask myself questions like: "Will I be teaching her how to do a lot of dishes by hand like I was taught just so she knows how even though we have become somewhat dependent on the dishwasher nowadays?" I also asked myself this: "Will I be teaching her how to wash clothes by hand like I was taught or will it all be the washer and dryer?" "If the washer broke, would it be fair to just go to the laundromat and pay for it or a drycleaners as opposed to learning how to wash clothes by hand?"
I decided I would definitely teach her to do dishes by hand but I was torn on the issue of washing clothes by hand though. The dilema here in my mind (it's really all in my mind because this child is two years old!) is this: Where is the balance between preparing them to survive in the world on their own and being well equiped for it and going overboard and taking them back to the dark ages?
I have a lot more examples having been raised partly in Nigeria. We used to sweep manually, even the carpet! We had special brooms that would sweep the carpet or rug well if you didn't want to use the Hoover/ vacuum cleaner.
We even had alternatived to a blender back then in the form of little rock slabs and oval rocks to grind stuff like pepper with. I never got the hang of that one though due to my carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists!
So, what do you think people? Where do we cross over from wanting to raise responsible kids to just plain taking the fun out of life in this century by taking them way back to the dark ages.
Please comment. I am really pondering on this.
Enjoy your weekend.
Folake.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
And the winner is...
Well, well, well. This is the last week of the free book giveaway on this blog for now. As you may know, for the last three weeks, there has been a contest in honor of Black History Month for a free copy of The Only Way is Up.
This week, the winner is Fashion Hendricks, Director/Project Coordinator of the Frank Ski Kids Foundation. All of our comments this week have been anonymous incidentally. One person included their first name in the post but only Ms. Hendricks added her last name. I figure it should not be too hard to locate her to claim her free book!
I hope you all had a great week and I wish you a restful weekend.
Peace.
Folake.
This week, the winner is Fashion Hendricks, Director/Project Coordinator of the Frank Ski Kids Foundation. All of our comments this week have been anonymous incidentally. One person included their first name in the post but only Ms. Hendricks added her last name. I figure it should not be too hard to locate her to claim her free book!
I hope you all had a great week and I wish you a restful weekend.
Peace.
Folake.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Travel-A Form of Education
My English teacher at St Saviours on Old Kent Road in London (Mrs. Leach) used to always say to me: "There is nothing like a well traveled young person!" She believed in me. She made me take my English GCSE 1 year early (High School diploma equivalent) which was a year early for my class but 2 years early for my age, 14 at the time. I passed!
As I talk about in my book The Only Way is Up, global travel is part of education and growth as a person. I know several people who get it. Frank Ski took the boys and girls of the Frank Ski Kids Foundation to the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon and Italy in the last few years. These kids' lives never remained the same.
The Frank and Wanda Morning Show have gone to South Africa, China, Mexico and Dubai with the adults on their Winter trip also over the last 4 years.
As shown on CNN last year, Mallak Compton-Rock, Chris Rock's wife has taken the kids from the Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center in Brooklyn under her wings. She has not only taken them to dinners, movies and college tours but she has traveled with these kids to South Africa, New Orleans and DC. Some of these kids have gone from feeling sorry for themselves and their lives in the projects to being thankful they have a school to go to, unlike some of the kids they saw during their travels. You could tell a child these stories all day long and they would not get it quite the same but when you see it, the impact is different.
It was easy to see what Principal Steve Perry was doing with the kids in Hartford Connecticut when both stories were featured in Black in America 2. We get conventional education. And while everyone applauded the principal for his efforts and many felt Mallak's effort were minuscule at best in comparism, I held a different view because travel is extremely important as well. She focused on non-conventional education but nonetheless, necessary in addition to structured learning in school. I thought they both did a phenomenal job and both approaches were necessary.
Why not just send them to Disney and be done? Because these people get it! If you don't get it, I challenge you to try it with your kids. It sends a strong positive non-verbal motivational message that gets kids fired up to work hard at school and succeed in life. This approach makes them grow up. It makes them stop taking for granted and appreciating instead. They go from being mediocre to wanting to excel. I challenge you to try it...
What are your thoughts on this issue? Please leave a comment. Thank you.
Folake.
As I talk about in my book The Only Way is Up, global travel is part of education and growth as a person. I know several people who get it. Frank Ski took the boys and girls of the Frank Ski Kids Foundation to the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon and Italy in the last few years. These kids' lives never remained the same.
The Frank and Wanda Morning Show have gone to South Africa, China, Mexico and Dubai with the adults on their Winter trip also over the last 4 years.
As shown on CNN last year, Mallak Compton-Rock, Chris Rock's wife has taken the kids from the Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center in Brooklyn under her wings. She has not only taken them to dinners, movies and college tours but she has traveled with these kids to South Africa, New Orleans and DC. Some of these kids have gone from feeling sorry for themselves and their lives in the projects to being thankful they have a school to go to, unlike some of the kids they saw during their travels. You could tell a child these stories all day long and they would not get it quite the same but when you see it, the impact is different.
It was easy to see what Principal Steve Perry was doing with the kids in Hartford Connecticut when both stories were featured in Black in America 2. We get conventional education. And while everyone applauded the principal for his efforts and many felt Mallak's effort were minuscule at best in comparism, I held a different view because travel is extremely important as well. She focused on non-conventional education but nonetheless, necessary in addition to structured learning in school. I thought they both did a phenomenal job and both approaches were necessary.
Why not just send them to Disney and be done? Because these people get it! If you don't get it, I challenge you to try it with your kids. It sends a strong positive non-verbal motivational message that gets kids fired up to work hard at school and succeed in life. This approach makes them grow up. It makes them stop taking for granted and appreciating instead. They go from being mediocre to wanting to excel. I challenge you to try it...
What are your thoughts on this issue? Please leave a comment. Thank you.
Folake.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Author Exposure: Book Review: The Only Way is Up
Author Exposure: Book Review: The Only Way is Up
Please click here for other Professional Reviews from Apex Reviews and Midwest Book Review...
It's a great week!
Thank you.
Folake.
Please click here for other Professional Reviews from Apex Reviews and Midwest Book Review...
It's a great week!
Thank you.
Folake.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Too Much Too Soon
A friend of mine had a question for me about a certain part of The Only Way is Up in the chapter for single ladies very early this morning. It got me thinking. I'll share the quote first:
“For one of my friends, she always seemed to literally fall in love too fast. It was always like falling off the edge of a cliff for her. And somehow, this seemed to scare the men away. She just could not learn how to slow it down just a little and let the man even attempt to catch up with her. If the man lived out of town, she was getting on a plane to go visiting or driving down all the time to see this man who was not making the same effort. She blocked all other avenues of meeting or talking to any other man once this person that she liked started to show the slightest interest. She started to plan her life around the man very early. The man would then give up and move on. She was doing things that would be perfect if the man had committed and they were engaged but this was even before the man knew which way he was going.”
I had to read it over and it got me thinking. Many women have been guilty of this at some point in their lives. We get all wrapped up too early in a relationship and somehow we think the more we do, the more the man will like us and want to be with us. Being the strange creatures that men are, they draw back and get suspicious instead and may even run. My conclusion is that you should give of yourself in small doses even as he is giving of himself. If he is holding back, he is either not into you or he is not there yet and you should hold back a little too. If it doesn't work, your dignity and pride will at least be intact.
A man staying with you and falling in love with you is a combination of some intricate things that only men seem to understand but trying to force it or do too much too soon does not help.
Finding the right balance is the challenge however. Some women hold back too much and come across as not caring at all. This also does not work because men still do want TLC!
What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment.
Thank you.
Folake.
“For one of my friends, she always seemed to literally fall in love too fast. It was always like falling off the edge of a cliff for her. And somehow, this seemed to scare the men away. She just could not learn how to slow it down just a little and let the man even attempt to catch up with her. If the man lived out of town, she was getting on a plane to go visiting or driving down all the time to see this man who was not making the same effort. She blocked all other avenues of meeting or talking to any other man once this person that she liked started to show the slightest interest. She started to plan her life around the man very early. The man would then give up and move on. She was doing things that would be perfect if the man had committed and they were engaged but this was even before the man knew which way he was going.”
I had to read it over and it got me thinking. Many women have been guilty of this at some point in their lives. We get all wrapped up too early in a relationship and somehow we think the more we do, the more the man will like us and want to be with us. Being the strange creatures that men are, they draw back and get suspicious instead and may even run. My conclusion is that you should give of yourself in small doses even as he is giving of himself. If he is holding back, he is either not into you or he is not there yet and you should hold back a little too. If it doesn't work, your dignity and pride will at least be intact.
A man staying with you and falling in love with you is a combination of some intricate things that only men seem to understand but trying to force it or do too much too soon does not help.
Finding the right balance is the challenge however. Some women hold back too much and come across as not caring at all. This also does not work because men still do want TLC!
What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment.
Thank you.
Folake.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)